Canada Citizenship

Permanent residents of Canada can become Canadian citizens and obtain Canada Citizenship if they have been permanent residents of Canada and physically been in Canada for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Read more about eligibility requirements.

A Pathway from Canadian Permanent Resident to a Canadian Citizen

There are certain eligibility requirements for a Canadian citizenship application.

First, a candidate must have been a permanent resident of Canada and physically been in Canada for at least 3 of the last 5 years.

Secondly, a permanent resident of Canada should not have been outside of Canada for more than a total of 730 days in the last 5 years.

Also, a Canadian citizenship test should be taken, and language requirements and tax obligations must be met before a permanent resident can make a Canadian citizenship application.

Canadian Citizenship Requirements For Permanent Residents 

Here is a rundown of the main conditions:

Permanent Resident Status

Regardless of your age, if you desire to become a Canadian citizen, when you apply for Canadian citizenship you must have:

• Permanent Resident status in Canada.
• No unfulfilled requirements associated with your PR status.
• At the time you apply, your PR status must not be in question. This means you must not be under review for fraud or immigration reasons, have related to your PR status unfulfilled conditions, be under a removal order.

Even if your PR card is expired, you can still apply for citizenship. If you have served in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, you might be able to apply through a fast-track process.

Income Tax Filing

Canada immigration requirements also include meeting your personal income tax filing obligations. That’s why regardless of your age, under the Income Tax Act, you must meet your personal income tax filing obligations in 3 tax years that are partially or fully within the 5 years right before citizenship application.

Language Skills

• Meet the minimum language requirements in either English or French. Applicants between the ages of 18 and 54 will be required to show proof of their language proficiency

How Well You Know Canada

For becoming a Canadian citizen, you’ll need to take a test of the knowledge requirement. You’ll need to answer questions about Canada’s:

• Symbols.
• History.
• Values.
• Institutions.
• Responsibilities, rights, and privileges of citizenship (like obeying the law and voting in elections).

The Discover Canada study guide will help to prepare for the tests and can be found here.

Prohibitions 

You may not be eligible to become a Canadian citizen for a period if you have committed a crime in or outside Canada. This includes if you:

• Are serving a term of imprisonment, on probation or parole in Canada (doesn’t count as the time you have lived in Canada).
• Are serving a sentence outside Canada.
• Have been convicted in the four years before applying for citizenship of an offense outside Canada or an indictable offense in Canada.
• Are charged with, on trial for, or involved in an appeal of an offense outside Canada or the indictable offense in Canada.